Radio Shoot Club, Part Four

Denise, the receptionist, is on the phone when we arrive. "Hi guys," she says, covering the mouthpiece. "Hi Douglas," she adds in a voice that has all its own color, timbre, and pitch. We're 'guys', he's 'Douglas'.

"Gentlemen, right on time," says the studio owner, ushering us into the booth. The weird little guy who records a podcast before us is just leaving. Nick, the high school kid and owner's son, our very own engineer, gives us the thumbs up from behind the glass.

"So I hear there was a big event in Los Angeles this week?" the owner asks me. "You attended, yes? Press credentials and all. How was it?"

"Yeah, they have it every year. Los Angeles is really nice. Nintendo had a good presentation, but the Playstation 3 is in trouble. Rock Band is really cool."

"Ah, well." He has no idea what I'm talking about. I need to remember to prepare a 'How was E3' sound bite for mainstream people. "But I hear there's a price cut on the Sony Playstation 3, and that the Microsoft Xbox 360 has technical problems."

"Don't get him started," Trevor says as I get started. "We're going to get into all that for this week's podcast."

"Well, what with this price cut on the one and the technical problems on the other, I intend to get Nick a Playstation 3 for his birthday, which is coming up in two weeks," the old guy says, conspiratorially. Through the glass, I can see his son's dismayed look. Obviously, the mics are turned on.